Bavarian Forest Nature Park – the lush green roof of Europe

Reaching from the Danube valley all the way to the Grosser Arber mountain, the Bavarian Forest Nature Park takes in 89 towns and villages in the districts of Straubing-Bogen, Deggendorf, Regen and Freyung-Grafenau.

Juxtaposition is writ large here. The Bavarian Forest Nature Park is impressive for the sheer breadth of its diversity. Its natural treasures stretch as far as the Danube valley via the fruit growing areas (particularly lovely in spring) and the towns of Lalling and Neukirchen, and up to the Arber peaks with their areas of primeval woodland.

Since 1967, the Bavarian Forest Nature Park Society has worked to care for and maintain the area in partnership with the districts of Regen, Freyung-Grafenau, Deggendorf und Straubing-Bogen and their 89 member towns and villages. Staff at the nature park are happy to show the forest to locals and visitors alike, and play an important role in the local tourist industry and environmental education here in Lower Bavaria. For those wanting to explore the park under their own steam, but still learn about the natural landscape, there are dozens of nature experience trails and six information centres. Of these, the Sonnenhaus in Zwiesel is particularly impressive. Built in 2002 from renewable resources, it is today entirely energy self-sufficient. Another educational resource is available at the border railway station of Eisenstein. Here, as well as a ski museum, you'll find interactive exhibitions dedicated to the subjects of bats, the Arber mountain, and railways and transportation.